The Good, the Annoying and the Sleepy

Yesterday was Jam's first meeting of the Central Group.

We met at the St. Pete Pier. It was a long walk in for little dog, but he did very well. On occasion, we would have to do a sing-song "Hurry up, hurry up!" to get him back in the groove, but he made it to the pier under his own steam.

Once there, Central AC Judy led the meeting and then trainer Jennifer did some obedience with us. We learned how to make a proper correction and Judy talked with us about the right length for a training collar.

When the obedience class started since Jam was so small, we mainly sat and watched. What is always curious about having a meeting like this in a public place is what the public will do. For instance, what you can't see in the photo below is that there is a small annex to the right of Fred and Jam where all the big dogs are following Jennifer's instructions.

Now bear in mind that when we are out with Jam we are officially representing SEGD and that is why they suggest in the manual, "if you are in a hurry, don't take your puppy with you." Why? Because someone ALWAYS stops and wants to talk or pet the puppy and it's just good PR and common courtesy to be polite and have a friendly conversation with them about the program. You never know who might be a potential puppy raiser or puppy sponsor.

But then there are the others.

I was a little off to the side taking photos of the group when I heard this loud voice say, "Down! Down!"

I happen to look over to where Fred is and there is this rather large lady who has taken it upon herself to come over to where Jam is sitting watching the big dogs do a down stay and she is almost shouting at Jam and Fred, "Down! Down!"

Jam is freaked out and frozen in place. Fred however is Mr. Chill. As the woman begins her large arm movement for down and says, "Doesn't he know down?" Fred very calmly grabs Jam around the hips and slides him from one side the chair to the other where she can't see him. Then he turns back to the obedience class.

There is a faint smile on his face.

The lady wanders off.


Here is Jam with Fred before large lady shouted at him.


And then there are the fabulous people. After the obedience class and after we had been on the glass elevator and up to the 5th floor to see the view (Jam went right over to the railing, no fear), some kids asked (it's so nice when people ask instead of using the zombie hand) if they could pet Jam. Fred said they could, but there were some rules, they needed to be sitting, Jam needed to sit and if he started to bite, they must remove their hand. They were all great. Jam included!

Jam also got to meet a small fish. He was intrigued, but we hurried on by.



At the end of the meeting though, we were all tired and hungry. We met up with Annie's parents for lunch at Bella Brava and the pups fell right asleep and stayed that way through lunch.

Below is a little video I put together of some of his exposures on Saturday.